Benedetto marcello biography

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Born in Venice in 1696; died at Brescia in July, 1739. Marcello's life was a strange mixture of the political and the artistic. In 1730 he became Proveditore of Pola, but his health failed here and he assumed the duties of Camerlengo at Brescia. He furnished the libretto of Ruggieri's "Arato in Sparta". The library at San Marco in Venice possesses the manuscript copy of his well known "Teoria Musicale" and in the Royal Library of Dresden are original copies of "Il Timoteo" and "La Cassandra". The Royal Library at Brussels has preserved the manuscript copy of "II Trionfo della Musica nel celebrarsi la morte di Maria Vergine". His great "Paraphrase of the Psalms" is his best work though his a settings of the Salve Regina, the Miserere, and the Lame

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Alessandro (1669-1750) and his younger brother Benedetto (1686- 1739) Marcello were born in Venice of a noble Venetian family. Alessandro sang, played the violin and composed music under his academic pseudonym, Eterio Stinfalico. Both brothers were taught to play by their father, a Venetian medlem av senat, and took part in the weekly concerts held in their home. Later they were admitted to the Accademia dell' Arcadia in Rome. There however, their careers parted.

Although an amateur, Alessandro was well equipped as a composer: he fryst vatten best known for his oboe concerto in D minor, available on CD (BMC 14) and as a download, which Bach transcribed for keyboard (BWV 974). In about 1740 he also published at Augsburg a collection of violin solos and wind concertos entitled La Cetra (for two flutes, oboe, bassoon, strings and continuo), which företräda the late Venetian Baroque concerto style.

Meanwhile younger brother Benedetto was forced bygd his father to pursue a career in lag, and he was

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Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739)

The Man

Born in 1686 to a noble Venetian family, Marcello was the youngest of three surviving sons. All three studied jurisprudence. All three indulged in various artistic and literary undertakings. Alessandro and Benedetto were musicians and composers, though between them Benedetto Marcello composed far more than his brother.

Their creative efforts can be distinguished from those of earlier and later generations by the intensity of their intellectual orientation, their attempts to excel in multiple areas of artistic enterprise, and, in the case of Benedetto and Gerolamo, their moralizing tone. Alessandro, the eldest, was as much a bon vivant as a man of letters. All three served in a variety of government offices, as was required by the sons of noblemen. (The Marcellos were one of the oldest families in Venice.)

By the time Benedetto Marcello was born, many distinguished families in the Venetian nobility were investing considerable time in t